


Stranger Cargo

by FestiveFerret



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canonical Character Death, Capwolf, Hopeful Ending, IN SPACE!, Iron Man 1 AU, Kidnapped Tony Stark, M/M, Minor Character Death, Sort of a Firefly Situation, Space AU, Ten Rings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22430968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret
Summary: Tony Stark is scavenging dead ships for vibranium when the Ten Rings finds him. Instead of killing him outright, they decide to feed him to a pet of theirs. But the huge, savage wolf turns out to be more than it seems.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 25
Kudos: 550
Collections: POTS (18+) Stony Stocking 2019





	Stranger Cargo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [willidothefandango (nagth)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagth/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [willidothefandango (nagth)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagth/pseuds/willidothefandango) in the [stony_stocking_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/stony_stocking_2019) collection. 



Tony hit the throttle and launched himself off the edge of the whale's chassis. He floated in open space for a moment, using his momentum to twist himself around, then fired the repulsors again, dropping down to the back of the floating hull. "JARVIS," he called, over the comm, "finish those scans yet?"

"One more moment, sir," the AI replied promptly. 

Tony activated his gravity clamps and snapped down to the metal hull. He and JARVIS had found the beached whale sixty stellari outside of the Registan Nebula, a destroyed ship, floating empty and useless, except to scavengers like him. He walked along the hull to the bay doors and waited, one palm pressed against the metal. There was no point in busting it open unless JARVIS detected vibranium inside, and he always did a scan for lifesigns before breaching the hull. It wasn't worth risking a life, as unlikely as it was.

"All clear, sir," JARVIS finally reported with a chirp. "This is a Quin class vessel, Mark 6, bearing the SHIELD insignia. There are no lifesigns, and the vibranium core remains intact. Proceed to the engine room." JARVIS threw up blueprints for a Quin class on Tony's HUD and he clicked his repulsor into cutter mode and started blasting his way through the door. 

When he cut through the final hinge, the door flew open and Tony stepped inside. He followed the map on his HUD down a corridor and past the cockpit. A ladder led to the engine room, so he disconnected his clamps and fired the repulsors, rocketing himself down below. He made straight for the core housing. He'd learned the hard way, over the years, that nothing else was worth salvaging, anymore. All the money and tech was in vibranium, and with Wakanda blocked for all atmospheric entry, any scrap you could find was worth a fortune. Sure, there were other ways to power a ship - JARVIS had run on palladium for years, now ran on the same synthetic element that powered the Iron Man glider - but vibranium was where the money was.

"Sir - we have -" JARVIS cut into static.

"J?"

"Reboot sequence." There was a pause. "My apologies, sir, I briefly lost connection."

"Everything's okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Alrighty, then." Tony popped the core housing open and pulled a lever to release the locks. He tugged the housing out and clamped it to the side of the Iron Man suit, then he activated his repulsors again. He ignored the gravity clamps, this time, propelling himself through the hull of the whale, spinning as it spun, until he shot out of the open doors. "Could use a pick up, J," he called, and he watched his ship cut through space as it zipped along towards him. He angled the repulsors, as JARVIS opened the airlock, and popped neatly through, clamping to the wall. When the airlock door light turned green, he popped the Iron Man helmet open.

The second door opened, and Tony stepped through, releasing the locks on the suit at the same time so his next step took him out of it. DUM-E hummed over and grasped the handle on the side of the glider, dragging it away for storage. 

Tony pulled his gloves off and rolled his neck out, stretching his shoulders back. DUM-E would put the vibranium core in the hold with the others… or in the rationpak cupboard, but either way, it'd be filed carefully.

"Hey, J, how's the -  _ hurg -"  _ A hand closing around Tony's neck jerked him backwards, and a man stepped out of the shadows. Tony struggled in his hold but his vibranium-reinforced grip had no give. 

"Tony Stark…" the man drawled. 

Tony's interpreter clicked and buzzed in his ear which meant JARVIS' higher systems were offline. "Raza," Tony choked out, trying to suck in enough air to stay conscious. 

"You scavengers are all the same," Raza said with a laugh. "So easy to draw in. Like a mouse to a trap stuffed with cheese." Raza dropped Tony's neck, letting him tumble to the floor and clapped his hands together like a trap closing.

Tony rubbed his neck, glaring up at Raza and the gang of men closing in behind him. "What do you want?"

Raza grinned. "Everything in your hold."

Tony ground his teeth together. It wasn't like it was a surprise. He nodded, hoping DUM-E actually had been using the rationpak cupboard.

Raza bent down towards him. "And your ship."

Tony glared back, heart clenching.

"And you."

"Fuck off."

But he was one unarmed man against ten, and JARVIS remained offline. Before they put a set of cuffs on him, Tony managed to slide his keydent card out of his pocket and press it to the subdermal implant in his forearm. When JARVIS came back online, he'd send the Iron Man suit after Tony, as long as he was still in range.

And alive.

**

Raza and his ghouls hitched JARVIS to their ship, shimmering it out of stealth mode so it loomed overhead. They spacewalked back on board and threw Tony in a cell he could barely stand in. The shift into hyperdrive made Tony's stomach lurch and he leaned against the metal wall and breathed deeply, trying not to think about his current predicament. The flight wasn't a long one - and really he should have known better. He was flying too close to Gulmira, and he should have expected something like this.

The ship rattled and groaned during re-entry, then Tony heard the rough grind of a dock. He hoped they'd be gentle with JARVIS. It had taken Tony years to build him.

Raza's men dragged Tony off the ship and dumped him in a pile with their other stolen goods. "I won't build anything for you," he spat out as soon as he saw Raza grinning down at him.

"Oh, you won't, will you? Well, then. I guess we'll just let you go."

Tony glared back.

"We don't want you to build stuff for us, sweetheart, we already have an engineer. All we need is your ship and your cargo. But don't worry. We still have a use for you. See, we picked up a new pet -" Raza leaned in close "- and he gets  _ hungry." _

They marched Tony - cursing and spitting and fighting - down a hall and threw him into a large, empty room and slammed the door. He stumbled to the ground and spat out a mouthful of dust.

"Are you okay?" came a soft voice from the dark shadows in the corner.

Tony pushed himself up onto his hands. He tried to find a shape in the dark but it was all murky and blurred. "I'm fine," he grumbled. "Who are you?"

"Yinsen. They captured me a long time ago." His voice was soft and sad.

"What's this pet they were talking about?" Tony shuffled around onto his butt and wiped his hands off. 

The shadows parted and Yinsen appeared, tall and thin and gaunt. He sat down a few feet away and set a bowl down which he slid towards Tony, but Tony shook his head. 

"I don't know. But sometimes I hear it crying at night. Long, mournful yowls. Men come, men go. It cries. I know little else."

"Why haven't they fed you to it yet?"

Yinsen shrugged. "I'm useful. I'm a doctor." He dropped his head like he was ashamed. "I have healed them when they were hurt."

"Don't you feel guilty about that," Tony told him. "You do what you have to to survive." He tipped backwards onto his back. "Whatever it takes."

**

They left Tony for long enough that he braved the bowl of food, and very nearly brought it back up again. The day must have come and gone with no noise or movement, and no light glowing through his skin on the implant. Most likely, they'd tried to break into JARVIS' server core and tripped the safeguards. That meant JARVIS could only be rebooted manually which was not great news.

He'd passed through nausea and back into hunger again when the door opened and three men appeared. Yinsen sunk back against the far wall, apologizing quietly, and Tony said a gruff, "Thank you," for his kindness and let himself be taken.

The men dragged him along a corridor towards a huge, reinforced metal door. At the door, they removed his cuffs. One of the men typed a code into a panel by the door and it unlocked with a metallic whine. The man on Tony's other side leveled a laser blaster at the door as it creaked open. 

A low, mournful whine echoed through the corridor, the call of a restless ghost seeking closure. It chased a shiver down Tony's spine and he stiffened automatically, leaning back away from the door. But the men pushed and shoved, eager to get Tony inside so they could close the door again, and fight as he might, he had nothing on three of them.

They slammed the door behind him and it relocked with a final-sounding click.

This room was larger, vaster, with a tall ceiling and a metal structure in the middle. Tony stayed on his feet, back pressed to the wall and started to circle the edge of the room, eyes on the middle. A low rumble vibrated through the floor and it didn't sound like an engine. 

Movement brought Tony to a sudden stop, and he watched, heart pounding, as an enormous wolf stepped out of the central structure, each foot big enough to crush a dinner plate beneath it, lips curled back and jaws dripping, growling at Tony's appearance in its home.

"Good dog?" Tony tried.

The growl deepened, the hair along its spine sticking straight up. It padded a few feet towards Tony, showing thousands of teeth, then turned and stalked back the other way, its eyes never breaking focus. 

"Well, fuck," Tony muttered to himself. "Never saw myself going down as dog chow."

The wolf was keeping its distance for now so Tony backed himself up against the door and slid to the ground, watching. The wolf kept pacing back and forth, hackles up, and Tony noticed a hitch on every fourth step. Its - his, apparently - left front leg had a band wrapped around it, and the wolf was limping on that leg. The band didn't look like a bandage, it was made of thick, dark material, like kevlar, and there was a small black box attached to it.

Tony shuffled along the wall until he had a better angle and peered at the box. There was a tiny light, blinking rhythmically. The wolf finally settled, dropping down to a tense, upright lying position, and every time the light blinked, the wolf flinched. It was almost imperceptible at first, but once Tony noticed it, he couldn't un-notice it. The wolf was also rough and patchy. He was still terrifying, strong and lean and  _ huge,  _ but it was also undeniably clear that the wolf wasn't a beloved pet, but a prisoner too, just like Tony.

Well, not  _ just  _ like Tony. Because Tony didn't have jaws of steel and claws that could rip skin off. He was under no illusions. Pet or not, Tony was only here to be dog food and the only reason he wasn't dead already was because the wolf wasn't hungry. Like a rat in a snake's tank, it was only a matter of time.

But there was still time, however much the wolf felt like giving him, and Tony wasn't one to sit on his ass and wait to be eaten. He tugged up the left sleeve of his shirt and pressed his thumb against the release on the inside of his forearm. The Skyn™ panel popped open with a hiss and Tony fanned out a set of tiny tools. The lockpicks wouldn't do him any good, but the doors here were electronic, which meant they could be overridden. Tony stood slowly, keeping one eye on the wolf, and started working his way around the door, looking for any sign of its internal electronics becoming external. 

Sure enough, at the top of the door was a conduit leading up to a black box sealed with two, heavy-duty screws. It was too high to reach, but even if he could reach it, he didn't have what he needed to activate the release. Just cutting the wires would set off a secondary backup that would slam shut a physical lock that could only be unlocked from the outside. The tiny set of tools in his arm would help him disable the lock, but what he really needed was a power source, something stronger than the one that powered his arm.

Something strong enough to give a wolf a nasty electric shock, for example.

Unfortunately, the only thing that fit that description was currently attached to the wolf in question. Tony turned around again and sat down, tapping one of his mini screwdrivers against his wrist. The wolf was pacing again. He sat down, lay down, then jumped up again and started pacing. The shock bracelet wouldn't let him sleep.

Tony waited for two hours, but the wolf never settled for more than a few minutes. He started to show more interest in Tony, staring with his huge, yellow eyes, still growling. 

They were doing it on purpose, that much had become clear. The shock bracelet was keeping the wolf angry and unsettled. It was much more likely to attack Tony when it hadn't slept, and Tony guessed it wasn't eating either.

Tony let his eyes trace the edges of the room again. If the wolf really had been kept awake by the shocks, then maybe if Tony managed to deactivate it, the wolf would fall asleep. That would give Tony the chance to better explore the space and maybe even get the bracelet off for him to use. The signal had to be coming from somewhere… Tony didn't have to disable the bracelet, just block the signal that told it to fire.

And with walls like this, the signal would have to be boosted inside the room, which meant…  _ there.  _ In the corner, on the wall with the door, was a small box, low to the ground, like a power outlet but sealed off. Tony slunk his way along the wall, never turning his back to the wolf, which stood and paced, low growling getting louder every time Tony moved too quickly. When Tony's back hit the corner, he slid down to the floor and waited, still, until the wolf settled too, twitching and growling, but his laser focus no longer on Tony.

Tony opened the Skyn™ panel in his arm again and poked around for the right tool, then set to work opening the box. A screw on the top and bottom released the cover and he could get at the electronics inside. It was essentially nothing more than an antenna, which was good - easy to break. He snipped two wires then turned his attention back to the wolf and waited.

For a long moment, everything was still. The the wolf stood. The growl dropped away and it started panting instead, drool falling in long lines to the dusty floor. It lifted its paw, dropped it, lifted it again. Tony stayed crunched in the corner, waiting - surely exhaustion would take over soon?

The wolf stood again and a horrible, whining cry burst from its throat. It staggered backwards, crumpling to the floor, still panting, then its fur began to melt away, giving way to skin. It growled, deep and low, once, and then it was a man. He had golden hair and a fair complexion, and even half-starved, he rippled with rows of impressive muscles under smooth, hairless skin.

"Oh my god. Holy shit." Tony crawled towards it a few feet then stilled, keeping space between them. "You're a Howler." Tony was sure they were all extinct. HYDRA had wiped out their people, their forces, destroyed their planet.

The man panted for a moment, bare chest heaving up and down and then rolled sideways onto his elbow. His voice was rough and ruined when he spoke. "I _ was." _

"What are you now?" 

"Wild," he snapped. "You shouldn't have done that."

"Why not? You were in pain." Tony braved a few more steps. The shock bracelet had fallen to the floor when the wolf's leg had become a man's wrist, and Tony reached out and scooped it up, scuttling back a few more feet when the man eyed him dangerously.

"I would have killed you quickly, snapped your neck. They won't be so kind."

"My plan," Tony said, twisting open the casing on the shock bracelet and examining its insides, "is to not die at all."

The man scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"What's your name?"

He was quiet for a long time. "Steve. Steve Rogers of the 107th Howler division. Feels like a lifetime ago I last said that."

"Help me. I'll get you out," Tony promised. "I'll take you home."

"I have no home. They're all gone. You should let me die here."

Tony said nothing to that. 

The artificial lights faded slowly as the day ended, and Tony let himself shift closer to Steve, who was still curled up on the floor in the same position he'd first slumped down in. 

"Are you okay?"

Steve's shoulder shifted up and down in an awkward, sideways shrug.

"I really can get us out of here, but I need your help. If nothing else, you can kill the men that trapped you here."

A low growl rumbled out of Steve. He pushed up to sitting and his bright eyes caught Tony's. "That works for me," he snapped out.

"Okay. Okay, good."

"What do you need?"

"I need help getting up to the conduit above the door." Tony pointed. "I can't reach it, but with this -" he lifted the shock bracelet, now mostly taken apart "- I can unlock the door."

"So you need a boost?" Steve asked, the corner of his lips quirking up into a smile.

Tony shrugged. "Might as well put all those muscles to good use. Then once the door's open… well, we'll need to fight our way out, I assume. They have my ship docked, so if we can find it, we can get out of here. There's also someone in another cell, someone else we can save."

Steve nodded slowly. "Okay. They'll come after us."

"I have a plan for that too." Tony looked him up and down. "You can turn, right? I mean back and forth, at will?"

Steve chuckled, eyes dropping down to his lap. "Yeah. I can do that." There was still something wolfy about him, about the way he hunched over, shoulders tense, about the darkness in his eyes and the way the light glinted on his teeth when he smiled. 

"How long did they have you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a year. Maybe less." he shrugged. "Maybe more."

"I'm sorry."

Steve was quiet for a long time. "It doesn't matter," he finally said. "They're all dead, anyway." He huffed out a sharp breath then met Tony's gaze. "We should wait, almost a day cycle. There's a turnover about twenty minutes after the lights go down, when the rotation means most of them are sleeping or just waking up. That's when the internal defenses will be weakest. We've missed it though."

"How do you know?"

"I can hear it. When I'm a wolf."

"So you have to turn back?"

Steve grinned. "I won't eat you."

"Pff. I've had worse."

Steve stood, clearly unashamed of his nudity, and stretched, long and tall. Tony tried to keep his eyes averted, but they hadn't been kidding when they said the Howlers were the peak of human perfection. Good god. Then Steve closed his eyes and dropped to all fours, but before his hands hit the ground, they were paws, fur springing up where bare skin used to be. He shook like a dog, loose fur and drool flying off him, then turned around twice and lay down, about two feet from Tony.

"So we're just going to wait?"

Steve shot him a look then curled up again.

"I guess you're probably pretty low on sleep, huh?"

Steve closed his eyes.

"Right."

Tony spent the next few hours fiddling with the parts of the dismantled shock bracelet, then sleep started to pull at his edges too. Trusting that Steve's superhearing would alert them to anyone coming in, he hid the bracelet in his pocket and curled up on the floor. It was cold and damp, and it wasn't long before he was shivering too hard to sleep, arms wrapped around himself, the hard, concrete floor leaching away any warmth his body managed to manufacture.

A low grumble brought him out of his shaky doze and he watched as Steve pushed himself up to his feet, shook again, yawned, then walked over to Tony. He walked around him twice then flopped down, his long side wrapped around Tony's back. He nudged his head under Tony's arm, until he was the filling in a large, furry donut. Steve's fur was thick and warm, his body easily pumping out the heat that Tony couldn't manage. Tony muttered a soft, "Thanks," then melted into Steve's side, drifting almost immediately into a deep sleep.

He woke when Steve woke and pulled away, cold air, flooding in in his place. The day was long and boring, and Steve didn't change back so there was no conversation to be had. 

When the lights dimmed again, Tony shot Steve a look, and the wolf rose and sauntered over the door. They waited, Tony with his makeshift electronic lockpick and Steve hunched up and tense. At some cue only Steve could hear, he shifted, and suddenly Tony was standing shoulder to shoulder - or rather shoulder to rather shocking pecs - with Steve the human.

"A boost?" Steve said, and he bent slightly, hands cupped in a basket.

Tony braced a hand on Steve's shoulder then stepped into his hold. Steve straightened, and Tony slammed his other hand to the wall to brace himself as he shot several feet into the air, as if he weighed nothing. Steve moved Tony's foot from his hands to his shoulder effortlessly, and Tony settled in, braced against the wall and balanced on Steve's shoulders. He could just reach the conduit. Unscrewing the casing was slow and annoying and Tony scraped his knuckles on the wall more than once, but eventually he was able to pull it away from the wall and reveal the wires within. "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready."

Tony snapped his electronic lockpick around one of the wires and fired it. The lock unlatched with a resounding click and Steve stepped back from the door, letting Tony drop. Tony yelped, but Steve caught him in an embarrassingly firm bridal carry then tipped him on the floor. Pressed chest to chest, Tony carved his gaze up to meet Steve's and found something new in it - something distinctly human - but the door was open and, "We need to move."

Steve grabbed the handle of the door, pulled it back, and transformed. Together, they burst out into the hallway. Steve charged ahead while Tony made a beeline for Yinsen's cell. The door was locked, even from the outside, and Tony swore viciously, but a moment later, Steve appeared and dropped an unconscious man from his jaws. Attached to the man's belt was a keycard.

"Good dog," Tony said, pulling the card and a gun off the man's belt.

Steve roared and snapped at Tony, but turned to face the hall again. An alarm sounded in the distance, but Tony ignored it. He needed to get Yinsen out. He tapped the card to the lock, and when it disengaged, he shoved the door open. "Yinsen? Wake up! We're busting you out!"

Yinsen's wan face appeared out of the shadows. "You weren't eaten?" he gasped. "You survived."

"Not just survived, buddy. Me and the monster are staging a jail break. Grab your valuables and let's go!" Tony turned and led the way out of the cell and down the hall. When Yinsen caught up, Tony grabbed his arm and pulled him along. "Are there any other prisoners on the boat?" He checked the charge on the gun - 80%.

Yinsen shook his head. "I don't believe so. Just Ten Rings."

"Alright. They've got my ship. Steve's cleaning us a path. We're going to reboot it and get my walking suit then I'm going to rig this bad bitch to blow, and we're out of here."

Tony dragged Yinsen along, through Steve's path of carnage. Ahead of them, just out of view, came an endless stream of snarls and snaps, punctuated by the occasional gunshot. Steve had clearly been right. Though the alarm sounded, the Ten Rings were scattered and unsuspecting. Most of them had been asleep or just coming out of rotation onto the night shift. 

They made it to the ship without much difficulty, and Tony found Steve paused by the ShipLock that lead to JARVIS, jaws red and frothy with blood and spit. Steve stood, legs splayed and panting, his eyes on Yinsen as Tony led him over to JARVIS. Next to the ShipLock was a huge window, revealing the vastness of space and the edges of Tony's ship. He turned on the screen next to the ShipLock and started typing. "Yinsen, Steve. Steve, Yinsen."

"Um. Nice to meet you," Yinsen said, leaving plenty of space between him and the wolf. He turned to the window, pressing one palm against it, face going soft.

Tony started the reboot sequence and watched the screen start to load. "Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"This is going to take almost ten minutes. They'll be all over us by then."

Steve shuddered and groaned then transformed back into a man. Yinsen to his credit, barely blinked. "So we draw them away."

"I do have a little project to do in the engine room."

Steve grinned, revealing sharp canines. "I'll get you there."

"Okay. Yinsen, you stay here with JARVIS. When he finishes booting, go in the airlock and meet us there. We'll board together and get the fuck out of here."

Yinsen nodded, and Tony tossed him the gun.

"I'll find a new one. When J reboots, he's going to release my Iron Man suit and it'll come find me. Just… duck."

Steve transformed again, and Tony took off after him. He found a gun on another Ten Rings goon, his throat torn out by sharp teeth. With Steve charging ahead, it wasn't hard to get to the engine room. Tony fired off a few shots, but mostly he just picked his way through the bodies.

Two turns from the engine room, a loud rumble behind them had them both turning around, Steve with a growl and Tony with a grin. "Yeah, baby!" he yelled as the Iron Man armour deployed, crashing into him, plates sliding and locking until he was encased.

Steve guarded the door while Tony had his way with the engine block, rigging it to blow in fifteen minutes. That would give them enough time to get JARVIS disengaged and reach a safe distance.

"Come on, Fido! We're done here!" Tony took off back down the hall, Steve pushing past him with a growl to gallop around a corner. Tony had the repulsors, now, and he fired them with glee, keeping up with Steve, this time, instead of hanging back. They ended up in a tussle only one turn from the ShipLock where JARVIS was docked, and as soon as Tony had taken down his two goons, he pushed to his feet and ran around the corner, leaving Steve to handle his last attacker on his own. 

Yinsen had opened the inner airlock door and was stepping inside. He turned at the sound of Tony's footsteps and smiled. 

"We've got seven minutes!" Tony called, slowing to a halt to wait for Steve, but as he stopped, he watched the smile fall off Yinsen's face and turn to a dark frown. He raised the gun he was holding and fired. 

Tony spun around, aiming his repulsors in the direction Yinsen was looking, to find Raza standing by the door, holding a gun, a perfect hole through his chest. He slid to the floor and Tony turned back to Yinsen.

But Yinsen wasn't smiling in victory. He was looking at his own chest where a dark, red stain was starting to spread.

"No!" Tony flung himself across the space towards Yinsen, but it was too late. He crumpled to the floor. Tony dropped to his knees, the armour snapping back to reveal his hands and face. "Yinsen. It's okay, man, you're going to be okay. We're getting you out."

Yinsen smiled, his hand coming up to rest on the side of Tony's face. "Yes, it is. I'm free now. They don't have me anymore. I've seen the stars again. I'll be with my family soon. Go."

"No way! Not without you. Come on." Tony started to pull on Yinsen, but he shoved Tony back, shaking his head. 

He coughed, blood splattering across his chest. "Go. Please leave me. Go…" He went limp in Tony's hold, mouth slack, a ghost of a smile still on his lips.

"No… come on, man. Come on!" Tony scrambled for a pulse, but he couldn't find one. Yinsen was gone.

Firm arms wrapped around Tony's waist. "Tony! They're coming. Let's get out of here!" Steve hauled, and Tony's hands fell away from Yinsen's body. He let himself be dragged through the open bay door and into JARVIS. Steve dropped him on the floor then moved back towards Yinsen.

"No. Wait. He's gone."

Steve stilled then stepped back inside. "I'm sorry." 

Tony smacked the button on the hull door and it hummed as it swung closed. "JARVIS?"

"Yes, sir. All systems online."

"Disengage."

With a great, hauling creak, JARVIS released the SpaceLock and the ship pulled away from the dock. Without the seal, the vacuum of space rushed into the airlock and Tony stepped out of the Iron Man suit to watch as Yinsen's body floated away, with the stars again.

JARVIS fired the engines and the ship pulled away, leaving the Ten Rings vessel behind. A few minutes later, Tony's makeshift bomb went off, and he and Steve watched as the whole thing exploded, filling space with shrapnel and a flash of bright light.

Steve's hand landed on Tony's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"He said he was going to be with his family."

"The Ten Rings have destroyed a lot of planets, erased whole colonies. They've killed a lot of families."

Tony nodded. He headed for the cockpit, where he watched JARVIS run a full diagnostic on the ship. The hold was empty, all of Tony's vibranium destroyed in the explosion. If he planned to eat, he needed to find another whale to scavenge. He started setting up the nav. "So… I can take you anywhere you want to go. Within reason."

Steve settled down in the co-pilot's chair and looked out at the vastness of space spreading before them. "How about… with you?"

Tony looked over at him - younger looking now that he could see him in the light. Well… he'd picked up stranger cargo. "Okay," Tony said, offering him a smile. "Works for me."


End file.
